Domestic appliance



Jan. 20, 1959 K. K. KESLING DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed May 14, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H15 ATTORNEY Jan. 20, 1959 K, KESUNG 2,869,954

DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed May 14, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HVVENTUR Wei!) it Ke /i227 Y P HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 6 2,869,954 DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Keith K. Kesling, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application May 14, 1956, Serial No. 584,489 C 4 Claims. (Cl. 312-275) vided as a portion of at least one of the sliding doors normally inhibits accessibility to a part of the cabinet even where the sliding doors are opened to their fullest extent. Where conventional swinging doors are used there is a problem of mounting the cabinet so that adequate swinging space for the door is available. Moreover, the swinging door may still close off access to adjacent cabinets, and if opened to a position wherein the door extends outwardly from the cabinet, may block the path of a person attempting to gain access to the cabinet.

It is therefore an object ofthis invention to provide a linkage mechanism for a door of a kitchen cabinet, whereby the door is guided by the linkage mechanism to a position where the entire front of the cabinet is open and where the door is not in the way of a person attempting to gain access to the cabinet.

Another object is to provide a kitchen cabinet with a pair of doors that are movable together, the doors being movable to positions wherein the entire front portion of the cabinet is open and where the doors are out of the way of a person wishing to gain access to the interior of the cabinet;

A more specific object is to provide a kitchen cabinet with upper and lower vertically disposed doors that move together, the upper door being movable by guide means to a substantially-horizontal position spaced forwardly of the cabinet, and where said lower door moves to a horizontal position underlying the cabinet and out of the way of persons using the cabinet.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a kitchen cabinet made in accordance with this invention and having upper and lower doors;

Figure 2 is a side view, with parts broken away, of a kitchen cabinet made in accordance with this invention, showing the linkage mechanism for the doors of the cabinet in detail;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a side view, with parts broken away, of a kitchen cabinet having a single door showing the linkage mechanism for the door in detail.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a kitchen cabinet generally designated by reference numeral 1, is shown. The cabinet may be secured to a wall and arranged above lower base cabinets, if desired. The cabinet is primarily adapted for use as an upper. wall cabinet but may be used in any suitable place and with any kitchen arrangement. An upper door 3 and a lower door 5 normally close the front opening 7 of the cabinet and take the position shown in Fig; lv when open, and the position shown in Fig. 2 when of the cabinet.

closed. The doors 3 and 5 are guided in their move ment by a link mechanism that is enclosed by the outer walls of the cabinet 1 and inner side walls 23 of the cabinet. When the doors are opened the link mechanism projects through slots 8 and guides the doors to the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The link mechanism is more particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and more fully described hereinafter. The cabinet may be provided with the usual shelves arranged in any desired manner. An important feature of the invention is that the doors 3 and 5 are movable to positions shown in Fig. 1 wherein complete accessibility'to the cabinet is provided. The upper door 3 moves to a substantially horizontal position wherein the door is spaced slightly from the cabinet. The door 3, as shown in the drawings, is a few degrees above the horizontal but may lie in a true horizontal plane, if desired. The door 5 moves to a horizontal position partly underlying the bottom of cabinet 1. With the doors 3 and 5 open, a person desiring to use the cabinet has complete access thereto. Moreover, the door 5 does not protrude forwardly so as to prevent a user of the cabinet from getting near the cabinet. v

The linkage for guiding doors 3 and 5 to their open positions is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the phantom lines indicating the positions of the linkage and doors when doors 3 and 5 are open. A pair of links- 9 and 11 are pivotally connected to door 3 at pivot points 13 and 15, respectively. The opposite ends of links 9 and 11 are pivoted to a bracket 17 at pivot points 19 and 21, respectively. The bracket 17 is welded or otherwise secured to a vertically extending side wall portion 23 of the cabinet. The outer walls of the cabinet 1 and side walls 23 enclose the linkage mechanism except for slots 8, shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the door 3 is provided with a linkage mechanism of the type described at each side thereof, in order that door 3 will be supported at opposite sides. It should be noted that the distance between pivot points 13 and 19 is somewhat longer than the distance between pivot points 15 and 21. With this arrangement, the door 3 moves upwardly with respect to the cabinet when the door is first moved toward the open position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. With continued opening movement of door 3, the lower edge 4 of the door slowly rotates clockwise as it moves upwardly and finally takes a position spaced slightly from the cabinet 1. In the fully open position the door 3 is spaced a few degrees above a true horizontal position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but it is apparent that the linkage might be designed so that the door 3 would be in a true horizontal plane.

The lower door 5 of the cabinet 1 is connected with the cabinet by a pair of links 25 and 27. Link 25 is pivoted to door 5 at pivot point 29, the opposite end of link 25 being pivoted to a bracket 30 at pivot point 31. The link 27 is pivoted to door 5 at pivot point 33 while the opposite end of the link is pivoted to bracket 30 at pivot point 35. The bracket 30 is welded or otherwise secured to vertically extending wall portion 23 of the cabinet. The distance between pivot points 29 and 31 is longer than the distance between pivot points 33 and 35. It is to be understood that identical linkage as described above is provided at each side of door 5. With this linkage arrangement the door 5 is guided to a substantially horizontal position underlying a portion Since a portion of the door underlies the cabinet, there is very little of the door left that extends forwardly of the cabinet to impede the movement of a person desiring to gain access to the cabinet. This provides complete accessibility to the cabinet as the front portion of the cabinet is completely open and the door does not impede movement of a person toward the cabinet.

stantially horizontal position spaced The link 25 has an integral arm porti'on37 that'is pivotally connected with a vertically extending link 39 upper and lower doors together and thus'insures that the doors will move together. A counterbalance spring '43 is connected to pivot point 19 and to the lower" portion of link 39 at' 44. The counterbalance spring is under initial tension and operates to aid in the opening movement of the doors. The preferred method of operating the doors is to grasp the lower door 5, pulling the door forwardly of the cabinet. When door is pulled forwardly of the cabinet and moved to a position underlying the cabinet, the door 3 moves therewith to a subforwardly of the cabinet. It has been found that the above-described linkage mechanism provides for easy operation of the doors, and that very little physical effort is needed to open the doors simultaneously. It is apparent that door 5 might be provided with a handle or with hand-holds for moving the lower door 5 to its open position.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the vertically extending wall portion 23 of the cabinet that supports brackets 17 and 30 is shown secured to cabinet 1 by means of a bracket 45. The bracket 45 is welded or otherwise secured to vertically extending wall 23 and is secured to cabinet 1 by means of a screw 46. It is to be understood that several brackets 45 are provided in order to support wall 23. Since the brackets 45 are secured to cabinet 1 by means of screws 46, it is apparent that the vertically extending wall 23 and brackets 45 may be removed as a unit from within the cabinet by simply unfastening the screws 46. With such an arrangement it is possible to remove the vertically extending wall together with the linkage that is attached thereto for replacement of parts or for repairing the linkage mechanism. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the vertically extending wall 23 might also be welded to the cabinet 1 or secured to the cabinet in any other desired manner.

Referring now to Fig. 4, a modified kitchen cabinet and door arrangement therefor is shown. In this figure a single door 47 is shown closing the front opening of a kitchen cabinet 48. The door 47 is connected with cabinet 48 by means of a pair of links 49 and 51. The link 49 is pivoted to door 47 at pivot point 53 and is pivoted at its opposite end to a bracket 55 at pivot point 57. The link 51 is pivoted to door 47 at pivot point 59 and is pivoted at its opposite end to bracket 55 at pivot point 61. The bracket 55 is secured to cabinet 48 by means of screws 62. A link 63 is pivoted to link 49 at pivot point 65, the link 63 being pivoted at its opposite end to a bell crank lever 67 at pivot point 68. The L-shaped link 67 is pivoted to a bracket 69 as at 71. The bracket 69 is secured to the cabinet 48 by screws 73. A counterbalance spring 75 is secured between pivot point 57 and pivot point 68. It is to be understood that the door 47 is provided with identical linkage as described above at either side thereof. With the abovedescribed linkage arrangement the door 47 initially moves upwardly and then rotates clockwise to a substantially horizontal position where the lower edge 56 of the door 47 is spaced from the cabinet 48. In this position the front portion of the cabinet is entirely open and the door 47 is disposed out of the way of a person using the cabinet. The door 47 is moved to an open position by means of an actuating rod 79 pivoted to bell crank lever 67 at 81. A handle 77 is fixed to one end of rod 79. When it is desired to move the door to open position, the handle is grasped and pulled outwardly, thereby moving rod 79 and bell crank 67.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

Wharis claimed has follows:

1. In combination, a kitchen cabinet having a front opening, upper and lower vertically disposed doors closing said opening a pair: of links connecting said lower door and said cabin'etfsaid links being pivoted at opposite ends to 'said'do0r and cabinet, the distance between pivot points of one of said links being greater than the distance between pivot points of the other of said links whereby said lower door is guided by said links to a substantially horizontal position spaced from and underlying the bottom of said cabinet when said lower door is moved to an open position, means pivotally connecting said upper door and said cabinet, and means connecting said upper and lower doors whereby said doors move together.

2. In combination, a kitchen cabinet having a front opening, upper and lower vertically extending doors closing said opening, a pair of upper links connecting said upper door and said cabinet, said upper links being pivoted at opposite ends to said door and cabinet, the distance between pivot points of one of said upper links being greater than the distance between pivot points of the other of said upper links whereby said door is guided by said upper links into, a substantially horizontal position when said door is moved'to an open position, a pair of lower links connecting said lower door and said cabinet, said lower links being pivoted at opposite ends to said lower door and said cabinet, the distance between pivot points of one of saidlower links being greater than the distance between pivot points of the other of said lower links whereby said lower door is guided in its movement to an open position into a substantially horizontal position underlying and spaced from the bottom of said cabinet, and means connecting said upper and lower links whereby said doors move together.

3. In combination, a kitchen cabinet having a front opening, upper and lower vertically disposed doors closing said opening, a pair of upper links pivotally connecting said upper door and said cabinet, said links guiding said door in its opening movement to a substantially horizontal open position spaced forwardly of said cabinet, at least one of said upper links being bent whereby a portion of said link extends above the top of said cabinet, a pair of lower links pivotally connecting said lower door and said cabinet, said lower links guiding said lower door to a substantially horizontal open position underlying a portion of said cabinet, at least one of said lower links being substantially C-shaped for fitting around the lower wall of the cabinet when said lower door is in an open position, and a link interconnecting ing said upper and lower links whereby saiddoors move together.

4. In combination, a kitchen cabinet having a front opening, a vertically disposed door closing said opening, and a pair of links connecting said door and said cabinet, one of said links comprising a substantially C-shaped link and the other of said links comprising a substantially inverted L-shaped link, said links being pivoted at opposite ends to said door and cabinet, the distance between pivot points of one of said links being greater than the distance between pivot points of the other of said links whereby said door is guided by said links to a substantially horizontal position spaced from and underlying the bottom of said cabinet when said door is moved to an open position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,848,942. Fantaci Mar. 8, 1932 1,921,690 Miller Aug. 8, 1933 2,131,576 Ziegler Sept. 27, 1938 2,249,932 Beal July 22, 1941 ....,2. ,7 .v m sad a a1. Aug- 1 1949 

